I do not enjoy talking to people

There should be a caveat, though. It should also have been voted the most talkative membership.

Yesterday, I went to the gym to lift and swim. In the lockerroom, I ran into a woman I know from running, who told me all about her race at Oceanside (where she did quite well). It was slightly awkward, though, because 1. I had to be somewhere in an hour and a half and was in a rush, 2. when people talk to me in the lockerroom, in various states of undress, I’m never sure where exactly to look, and 3. I had just come in a from a run and was bright red and dripping sweat and out of it and I could not remember her name. All this led to me just staring blankly.

Then, I started warming up in the weight room. And one of the guys on staff came over to ask me if I was an athlete. OK, yeah, why, what’s up, I asked. No reason.

I went back to lunging and another (older) guy came over to tell me, “That was a good lunge. I used to do lunges like that; that’s a good one. Did a coach give you that lunge?”

Uh, thanks.

Then, I was in the middle of a squat and the woman from the lockerroom (whose name is Shari, so there, I did know that, I just was tired!) wanted to know if I want to swim. Which is cool, because I like having people to swim with, but I was stuck in the middle of a squat, and not in the attractive part of the squatting motion.

So, we shared numbers.

Then, while I was kettleball swinging and hamstring curling, this other woman started talking about how the weights were too heavy and she already has a busted knee, which was goddamn Mary’s fault in the first place. I don’t think she was talking to me, but I was the only one around. And she got quite upset when I didn’t respond. There was a little bit of hostility at the drinking fountain.

Finally, I got out to the pool and the lifegaurd wanted to tell me about swimming etiquette and am I new here and what does it say on my swim cap?

It says, “I DON’T LIKE MAKING CONVERSATION!”

Steve says I should just be polite and continue what I’m doing, but I don’t know if it’s written anywhere that I have to be polite. If you interrupt someone to talk, then you have to talk on their terms. You, as the interruptee, have no right to civility.

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12 thoughts on “I do not enjoy talking to people”

This always seems to happen to me in the pool when people all of a sudden want to chat with me during my 10 second rest interval. REALLY? I mean can’t people see you are doing something? That’s a lose-lose situation. I’ll never understand it…

Try working out at the club you WORK at. You think you’ve got it bad? I can’t get through the HALLWAY without somebody stopping me. Although I appreciate that people feel so inclined to want to chat it up, I just kind of wish they’d not recognize me so that I could not have to build in extra ‘chat’ time. I definitely feel your pain. Maybe it’s a ‘club’ thing. Like, places that classify themselves as ‘clubs’ and not ‘gyms’ tend to be more social places. The Bohemian even had a different category in their ‘best of’ a couple of weeks ago where it was ‘best gym’ and ‘best club’.

One time a woman stopped me in the middle of my swim set. How she recognized me is beyond me b/c I never recognize anybody out of their element.

As for the talking in the locker room…yeah, unless I know the person well, I generally don’t enjoy chatting it up while naked or on my way to being naked.

People ALWAYS ask me “why don’t you workout here?” at the pool I teach Masters at….why? BECAUSE I would have to get feedback and answer questions instead of swimming. I keep the training and work separate! I do like to talk to people ALOT (duh), but at the right time! 🙂

“Forgive me, but I’m not myself when I’m really cooking the calories. And I really need to . . .”
Worked for me (with almost all) back in my triathalon days. As long as they weren’t completely ‘dissed’ most people gave way and were generous enough to welcome me when I was ready to engage.